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So excited that Beautycounter has finally launched Countersun Tinted Mineral Sunscreen Mist! As with all Beautycounter sunscreens, it’s water-resistant up to 80 minutes, reef-friendly, and comes in a non-aerosol spray. The two tinted shades are Light-Medium and Medium-Deep, both providing SPF 30.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, zinc oxide is the active ingredient in sunscreen and also what gives it that chalky whiteness. Typically women with deeper skin tones are then left with a white residue that no amount of rubbing in can fix. While tinted sunscreen for the face is nothing new, a tinted sunscreen mist for the body like Countersun Tinted Mineral Sunscreen Mist is kind of a big deal.

Stock up on all your sun essentials for summer here. If you have any questions before you shop, you can always reach me by clicking on the blue chat bubble on the bottom right of your screen!

Back in February, I attended A Conversation About Women of Color in the Clean Beauty Industry with Beautycounter at the Prince St. store in NYC. Early on in the conversation, the consultant next to me raised an interesting point that I hadn’t previously considered: She said she had invited her friend of Indian-descent to the store that night, but her friend opted not to come because she didn’t feel like “women of color” included her. In other words, she thought the term “women of color” was synonymous with black women.

By definition, “women of color” includes everyone who is not white, although I can understand the confusion. WoC is often used interchangeably with "black women,” and can be misinterpreted as an exclusionary term for Asian, Latina, Native American, mixed race, and anyone who falls outside of the black-white binary. And it’s worth mentioning that that’s the way I use the term here at Freckles On Point.

Asbestos has been shown to cause cancer. It’s the thing contractors hope not to find on every HGTV home renovation show when they flip an old house, and rightfully so because it can kill you. Asbestos is made up of microscopic fibers that are inhaled and can then cause four types of cancer: Lung, Ovarian, Laryngeal, and Mesothelioma.

As far as the beauty industry is concerned, asbestos can be found in products containing talc. Most recently Johnson & Johnson was in the headlines after a jury ordered them to pay $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women who filed lawsuits claiming that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder caused ovarian cancer.

A big part of Beautycounter’s mission includes advocating for safer laws and more regulation. You can read more about their advocacy efforts here. In the meantime, don’t buy makeup for you teen (or you) at Claire’s and shop Beautycounter’s line of cleaner, safer makeup with ingredient transparency.

Last Wednesday, BEAUTYCOUNTER hosted a great event for consultants about women of color in the clean beauty industry at their Prince Street store in SoHo. We learned so much about the company’s upcoming inclusivity initiatives – both big and small – from two women of color in particular: Kerryn Agyekum, VP of Corporate Communications and Community Expansion and Minetta Archer, Northeast Regional Director. They did a really great job of facilitating an open, welcoming conversation about the challenges clients and consultants face when selling to women of color, ranging from what kind of approach to take/not to take in conversations to helpful makeup techniques for women with deeper skin tones. I was encouraged by the many white consultants who asked thoughtful questions and were especially mindful about what language to use and were open about wanting to do better to serve women beyond their own communities.

First of all, if you haven’t been to the BEAUTYCOUNTER flagship in SoHo, you’re missing out. It’s beyond cute. The staff is so helpful (and diverse!), and there’s even a phone booth where you can call any member of Congress to advocate for better beauty legislation. They even provide phone numbers!

Kerryn Agyekum, VP of Corporate Communication and Community Expansion. I love that a large part of her role is all about working with the company’s inclusivity initiatives.

It was a great night! Any excuse to go to the Prince St. store, really. It was so worth braving the snow for!